There’s only one problem: Tocqueville, the famous French chronicler of early 19th century America, never said or wrote those words.

This portrait of Alexis de Tocqueville is not a fake.

Professors John J. Pitney Jr. and Joseph M. Bessette of Claremont McKenna College in California are a self-appointed Tocqueville truth squad. And they are doing their best to debunk this mythological quotation.

In Cornyn’s case, several of the San Antonio Republican’s Facebook fans quickly posted their agreement with the patriotic quote. But one Cornyn follower, Stephen Hollingshead posted, “It’s a nice sentiment, but I don’t think Tocqueville ever said that. If so, where?”

They note that the following passage attributed to (but not written by) Tocqueville has swirled around the Internet:

I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers—and it was not there… in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there… in her rich mines and her vast world commerce—and it was not there… in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution—and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.

In reality, they say:

In his 1940 farewell speech (Congressional Record, September 11, 1940, 11902.) , Senator Henry Ashurst (D-Arizona) attributed the first several lines of that passage to Tocqueville, then offered the last line as his own summation.

So Cornyn et al should be quoting an obscure former senator from Arizona — and a Democrat at that — rather than Alexis Charles Henri Maurice Clerel, le Comte de Tocqueville, better known as Alexis de Tocqueville.

For those who’d like a little more info, Tocqueville lived from 1805-1859. His masterpiece, Democracy in America (99 cents on Kindle), is a must-read for political science students and aspiring politicians.

But you won’t find “America is great because she is good” anywhere in it.